Tag Archives: shelby lynne

Click the photo above for a photo retrospective of George Jones' career. Here, Jones celebrates his 80th birthday on the Grand Ole Opry in 2011 (Tennessean File Photo)

It’s shaping up to be the event of the year. And now Country Music Hall of Famer George Jones’ final Nashville show is sold out.

The Nov. 22 concert, which takes place at Bridgestone Arena, is officially a sell-out at 12,000-plus seats, Jones’ publicist Kirt Webster announces this morning.

“I am overwhelmed with emotion that the fans have already sold out this show,” Jones said in a statement. “I never thought so many fans and friends would want to come see me at this age. Hell, I didn’t even think I would be alive at this age, yet alone doing my final show.”

More performers are expected to be announced Thursday. Watch here at Tennessean.com/music for more details – and for a contest in which The Tennessean will give away two tickets to the sold-out show.

Jones, 81, announced his final tour last August. “It is tough to stop doing what I love, but the time has come,” he said in a statement at the time. Jones’ "The Grand Tour” ends with the Nashville show.

Garth also brings a little experience with retirement. He’s tried it a couple times, but when a Vegas boss sweetens the deal with a jet, like Steve Wynn did in 2009, you find a way to dust off the guitar and play for another three years.

This concert will be the final stop for Jones’ “Grand Tour,” which has already begun.

As “The List” gets even bigger and more crowded with notable names, we expect tickets will become that much harder to come by. We can name 17,000 fans, or whatever the capacity of the Bridgestone might be that night, in the 37216 zip code alone. Throw in Music Row, and people will be spilling out the doors.

Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster retail outlets or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

A group shot before "One Night Only: A Celebration of the Live Music Experience." (Photo: Linda Zettler/The Tennessean)

LOS ANGELES – The Grammy Foundation sought to draw attention to live performance on Thursday night and started by setting up the following standing-ovation-inducing moments.

- Saxophonist Dave Koz paired with Trombone Shorty in a salute to The Savoy, a combination that brought the crowd to its feet midway through one song and regularly throughout the set.

- Gospel and R&B great Mavis Staples saluted The Apollo, delivered through songs such as “Ill Take You There”; Koz, Trombone Shorty and Ledisi returned to stage to join her, all creating another round of ovations.

- The furious guitar playing of Jonny Lang mixed with the passion and growl of "The Voice"’s Beverly McClellan during a tribute to landmark music festivals, Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love” among the songs.

A 14th annual Grammy Foundation Music Preservation Project, “One Night Only: A Celebration of the Live Music Experience” at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills paid tribute to venues that have contributed to some of the country’s most powerful live performances, also including The Paramount and the Grand Ole Opry. Shelby Lynne contributed the Opry salute, singing George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today.”

When people first bandied about the term "Americana," it was most often thought of as another way to say, "alternative country music." But these days, "Americana" has broadened to include blues, folk and even hard-charging rock 'n' roll.

Wilder helped put Nashville rock to public awareness in the 1980s with his stellar It Came From Nashville album, and he has remained a Music City force ever since. Jones is an acclaimed multi-instrumentalist who has produced albums for Jason & The Scorchers, Josh Rouse and Rotenberry's power pop outfit, The Shazam.

The Americana Music Association is also planning two more "Americana @ The Bluebird Cafe" shows this month: Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer will perform on March 22, and there'll be a Jerry Douglas & Friends concert March 24th. Ticket prices have not yet been announced for the Lynn/Moorer and Douglas shows.

After a lifetime spent playing saxophone for others, helping Grammy-winning notables such as Delbert McClinton and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown realize their musical ambitions, Nashville session and stage musician Dennis Taylor recorded his debut album in 2010, at age 56.

It was precisely the album he’d wanted to make, with rousing, New Orleans-inspired jazz and R&B, soulful blues and even a Beatles ballad, filtered through Taylor’s distinctive sensibility and aided by roaring Hammond organ and crackling drums. It was, for the first time, a full expression of his own musical art, which had previously been displayed in solos, not songs, and certainly not a full-length album. Taylor approved a cover photo, arrived at a song sequence and was proud of it all.

He then toured in McClinton’s band, played an October show in Greenville, Tex., had a heart attack, and died. Four months later, his album, Steppin’ Up, is available. The Bluebird Café will host a CD release party Sunday afternoon, and Dennis Taylor won’t be there for it.

“A couple of nights before he died, we were sitting on the bus and he said, ‘Man, I want to really thank you for singing on this album,’” says McClinton, whose work on “Since I Fell For You” provides the album’s only vocal. “He said, ‘I’ve wanted to do this forever, and it’s absolutely perfect.’ I looked at him, looked back, and he was gone.”Continue reading →

Click to see a gallery of photos from the Nashville premiere of 'Country Strong' (this image of stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw: Scott Garfield/Screen Gems/File).

A popular yet struggling country singer with flowing blond hair stands on stage surrounded by cheering fans. Her opening acts have just left the stage and the singer, Kelly Canter, looks lost as she labors to make it through her song. Kelly is fighting her way through alcohol addiction, and she’s developed a reputation as an unreliable performer. Backstage, her husband/manager, James, argues with the tour promoter to save her remaining dates.

It’s a scene that could unfold on any day in this town. But can it be believable on film? The classic tale of a country music artist grappling with personal demons and a rocky marriage is hardly new to the movies, but Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw and writer-director Shana Feste embraced the challenge in the making of Country Strong.

The film, which also stars Leighton Meester, Garrett Hedlund and Nashville itself — the picture was shot entirely in the city and surrounding areas — opens here on Wednesday, Dec. 22 and nationwide on Jan. 7.

The project attracted Paltrow from the start.

“The whole movie, the script, kind of captivated me,” said Paltrow, who has chosen, because of her young children, to work only once a year at this point in her career. “I really thought it was beautifully written and intelligent and complex. I loved the fact there was this great character written for a woman my age. And this (role) was the one that kept haunting me, and I’m so glad I did it.”Continue reading →

Shelby Lynne is getting her news in ahead of the 2010 Christmas-music rush: The singer will release her first holiday collection, dubbed Merry Christmas, on October 12.

The set features a mix of old chestnuts -- "Silent Night," "White Christmas" and such -- and a duo of new, original tunes: "Ain't Nothin' Like Christmas" and "Xmas." Lynne will release the holiday collection via her own Everso Records.

"I've always wanted to do a Christmas record and now that I have my own label, the time seemed right," she said in a statement.

Lynne adds an extra personal touch in the cover art: It'll be a photo of her at 4 years old, playing in the snow out in front of her Alabama home.

The taciturn, dryly humorous Sherrill and the outgoing, riotous Husky have disparate personalities and loosely connected legacies, but each is known for his genre-shaping role in country music’s evolution.

Husky, 84, is a groundbreaking artist whose smash hit “Gone” was at the forefront of the elegant “Nashville Sound.” Sherrill, 73, was a songwriter, executive and producer who built on that sound, helmed landmark recordings including the 1980 George Jones hit “He Stopped Loving Her Today” and had a hand in penning dozens of high-charting country songs.

“I’m just happy to see this happening, finally,” said Jones, sitting next to Sherrill. “He was Mr. Nashville, as far as I’m concerned.”

“That’s the only good thing I’ve ever heard him say about me,” Sherrill grumbled, flashing a quick half-smile at his old friend.Continue reading →

Singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne’s first original album in five years, Tears, Lies and Alibis, is the follow-up to her tribute to Dusty Springfield, and it works in similarly somber and soulful ways, albeit with an unmistakably Southern bent.